Refrigerator cabinet construction



April 9, 1968 w. J. HAGENDOORN ET AL 3,376,711

REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 23, 1966 I NVENTORS WILLEM I HAGENDOORN & CYRIL M. KEARL PFC-3.3

H\S AT 0 MEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,376,711 Patented Apr. 9, 1968 3,376,711 REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION Willem J. Hagendoorn and Cyril M. Kearl, Louisville,

Ky., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 581,614 5 Claims. (Cl. 62-410) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A refrigerator cabinet comprising storage compartments separated from one another by a partition and separate doors for closing the access openings to the compartments includes vent means for relieving a decrease in air pressure in either compartment comprising a first passage interconnecting the compartments through the partition and a second passage connecting the first passage to the exterior of the cabinet.

The present invention relates to refrigerator cabinet construction and is more particularly concerned with a combination refrigerator-freezer cabinet having separate access doors to the freezer and fresh food storage compartments and improved means for facilitating the opening of either of the doors.

Each time that a refrigerator door is opened, ambient air enters the cooled compartment served by that door. After the door is closed, this warm ambient air is rapidly cooled and therefore reduced in volume resulting in a lower air pressure within the compartment than that outside the compartment. This pressure differential substantially increases the force necessary to reopen the door.

Various means have been used or proposed for admitting ambient air directly into the interior of the refrigerator compartment at a rate which will quickly compensate for any decrease in the air pressure therein. However, the introduction of a compensating volume of ambient air also results in the introduction of a substantial quantity of water vapor carried by the ambient air which vapor may condense either on the items stored within the refrigerated compartment or in areas where the freezing thereof interferes with the proper operation of the refrigcrating means.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet including improved vent means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination refrigerator-freezer cabinet including a vent means adapted to relieve a pressure decrease in either one of the two compartments by the admission thereto of a mixture of ambient air and cooled air from the other compartment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a combination refrigerator-freezer cabinet with improved vent means designed to decrease substantially the total amount of water vapor introduced into a given compartment during any one pressure relief period.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vent means for a combination refrigerator-freezer including outlet means communicating with both of the compartments in the area in which any condensation of the moisture carried by the ambient air introduced into the cabinet will not be a cause for customer complaints.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator cabinet including insulated exterior walls and an insulated partition cooperating to define side-by-side freezer and fresh food storage compartments which are separated from one another by a vertical partition and which have separate access openings at the front of the cabinet. Breaker strips of insulating material surrounding each of the access openings includes sections which form the opposite sides of the forward end portion of the partition. Separate doors including sealing gaskets are provided for closing and sealing the access openings and each of the doors includes an inwardly extending flange which is in overlapping spaced relationship with the adjacent breaker strip section when the door is closed. For the purpose of venting each of the compartments in order to relieve the decrease in air pressure therein following the closing of its door, there is provided a vent comprising a first passage interconnecting the two compartments through the forward edge portion of the partition, that is in the breaker strip area, and a second passage extending from this first passage to the exterior of the cabinet. By this arrangement, the air supplied for relieving a decrease in air pressure in either compartment is a mixture of ambient air and relatively dry air from the other compartment.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front view partly in section of a twocompartment refrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 22 of FIGURE 1; and,

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

While the invention is applicable to any combination refrigerator-freezer in which the two storage compartments are in side-by-side relationship and separated by an insulating partition, it will be particularly described with referenceto a refrigerator including two vertically extending compartments separated by a vertical partition. Such a refrigerator is illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the drawing as comprising a cabinet including insulated exterior walls including an insulated bottom wall 1 and an insulated vertical partition 2 separating the cabinet volume into a freezer compartment 3 and a fresh food compartment 4. The bottom wall 1 separates these two compartments from a machinery compartment 5 in the lower portion of the cabinet.

It is shown more fully in FIGURE 3 of the drawing the freezer compartment 3 is defined by a metal liner 6 while the fresh food compartment is defined by a metal liner 7. The forward edges of these liners are spaced from outer shell of the cabinet including a vertical mullion 9 forming the front of the partition 2 and the spaces between the liners 6 and 7 and the shell are bridged respectively by means of breaker strips 10 and 11 composed of insulating material and respectively surrounding the access openings to the two compartments 3 and 4.

The access openings 3 and 4 are closed by suitable closure means such as doors 14 and 15 pivotally mounted on the cabinet at their outer edges by means of hinges 16. Resilient sealing means or gaskets 17 extending about the peripheral edges of each of the doors provide air seals between the doors and the face of the cabinet surrounding each of the access openings.

Each of the doors 14 and 15 also includes inner walls or panels composed for example of plastic sheet material and formed to include vertical flanges respectively indicated by the numerals 19 and 20 extending inwardly in overlapping spaced relationship with adjacent portions of the breaker strips 10 and 11 when the doors are closed.

In accordance with the present invention, improved vent means designed to relieve any decrease in air pressure within either one of the two storage compartments 3 and 4 is provided in the lower portion of the vertical partition 2 adjacent the front or breaker strip portion thereof. This vent means 25, shown in detail in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawing, is generally T-shaped and includes a first air passage 26 extending through the breaker strip portion of the partition 2 and interconnecting the two storage compartments 3 and 4 and a second air passage 27 connected to the first air passage 26 and extending through an exterior wall of the cabinet, as for example through the bottom wall 1.

When the insulation contained within the walls of the cabinet and within the partition 2 is rigid resin foam insulation, the two passages 26 and 27 can be conveniently formed after the assembly of the liners 6 and 7 within the cabinet and the foaming of the spaces between the liners and the outer shell by drilling the first passage 26 through the breaker strip area of the partition 2 and the drilling of the vertical passage 27 through the bottom wall 1 to a point where it intersects the horizontal passage 26. The result is a generally T-shaped vent interconnecting the two storage compartments 3 and 4 with one another and with the exterior of the cabinet. The ends 28 of the passage 26 may be covered by suitable louvered caps 29.

By this arrangement, it will be noted that each of the ends 28 of the passage 26 opens into a compartment opposite one of the flanges 19 and 20, that is in a portion of the storage compartment spaced from the metal liners 6 and 7 and from any shelf or other storage means normally provided within the compartments 3 and 4.

During use of the cabinet, warm ambient air enters one or the other of the two storage compartments 3 and 4 whenever the door serving the access opening to that compartment is opened. After closing of the door, this warm ambient air is cooled to the below ambient temperature within that compartment with a resultant decrease in the air pressure within the compartment. In the absence of any vent means, the resultant pressure differential across the door serving that compartment will tend to maintain the door in a closed position so that a greater pulling force is required on the handle 33 connected to that door in order to reopen the door.

The vent means of the present invention is designed to relieve this pressure differential by the initial introduction into the lower pressure compartment of a mixture of ambient air and air from the other of the two compartments and a distribution of the pressure compensating volume of ambient air between the two compartments so that the moisture content thereof is distributed between the two compartments. For example, if the freezer door 14 has been opened and thereafter closed, ambient air introduced into the freezer compartment 3 will be cooled to below freezing temperatures thereby decreasing the pressure within the freezer compartment 3. As a result, air is drawn into the freezer compartment from fresh food compartment 4 through the passage 26 and at the same time air is drawn from the ambient atmosphere through the passage 27 and a portion of the passage 26. Initial or partial relief of the low pressure condition within the freezer compartment 3 is thereby obtained by means of a mixture of fresh food compartment air ambient air. Also, this mixed air initally contacts the flange 19 which is composed of a low heat conductivity material so that a minimum condensation of moisture takes place thereon. Ambient air then flows into both compartments until the pressures therein become equal to atmospheric or ambient pressure. However, the moisture content of this total ambient air introduced into the cabinet is divided between two compartments and in both compartments the ambient air is initially brought into contact with the low conductivity flange portions of the doors.

In addition, since the vent is positioned in the forward or face portion of the cabinet remote from the usual refrigerating means provided within, the two stor- 4. age compartments, any moisture introduced into either compartment is distributed throughout the compartment air before coming into contact with the colder portions of the compartment.

In order to assure a maximum distribution of the ambient air moisture between the two compartments and a minimum condensation of moisture within either compartment following the opening and closing of the door serving that compartment, it is desirable that the passage 26 interconnecting the two compartments have an air flow capacity at least equal to the air flow capacity of the ambient air passage 27. This assures an intial introduction into the low pressure compartment of at least a 5050 mixture of ambient air and cooled and substantially dry air from the other compartment and therefore an approximately 50% decrease in the moisture content of that air.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to the particular embodiment thereof it will be understood that it is not limited thereto and is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

insulated walls including an exterior wall and an insulated partition defining separate freezer and fresh food storage compartments separated from one another by said insulated partition and having access openings at the front of the .said cabinet,

breaker strips of insulating material surrounding each of said access openings whereby sections thereof form the opposite sides of the forward edge portions. of said partition,

closure means for each of said access openings, each of said closure means including a flange of low heat conductivity material along one edge thereof extending inwardly in overlapping spaced relationship with the adjacent breaker strip portion of said partition when said closure member is closed,

resilient sealing means between. each of said closure air pressure in one of said compartments by the in:

troduction into said one compartment of a mixture of exterior air and relatively dry air from the other of said compartments. 2. The cabinet of claim 1 in which said vent means opens into each of said compartments opposite one of said flanges.

3. A refrigerator cabinet comprising: insulated walls including a bottom wall and an insulated vertical partition defining side by-side freezer and fresh food storage compartments separated from one another by said vertical insulated partition and having access openings at the front of said cabinet,

breaker strips of insulating material surrounding each of said access openings whereby sections thereof form the opposite sides of the forward edge portions of said partition, closure means for each of said access openings, each of said closure means including a flange of low heat conductivity material along one vertical edge thereof extending inwardly in overlapping spaced relationship with the adjacent breaker strip portion of said partition when said closure member is closed,

resilient sealing means between each said closure means and the front of said cabinet,

and means for relieving the decrease in air pressure in either of said compartments comprising a vent including a first air passage interconnecting said compartment through said forward edge portion of said partition with the ends thereof opening into the respective compartments opposite said flanges and a second air passage extending from said first passage to the exterior of said cabinet.

4. The cabinet of claim 3 in which said vent is substantially T-shaped and said second air passage extends through said bottom wall.

5. The cabinet of claim 3 in which said first air passage has a flow capacity at least e second passage.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Wagner 9832 Riggins 62-273 Bryson 62404 Wurtz 62-273 Costantini 62-410 qual to that of said 10 WILLIAM J. WYE, Primary Examiner. 

